Executive Production, A&R by Laurent Bizot
assisted by Thibaut Mullings
Illustration - Jerome Witz
Artwork - element-S
Produced by Vincent Segal
All tracks recorded by Fabien Girard assisted by Mathieu Trouvé
at studio Juillaguet, Angoulême, from July 27th to August 3d 2012
Except Ntomikorobougou recorded by Fabien Girard
in Ballaké Sissoko's courtyard, Bamako, Mali, on January 20th 2011
Mixed by Philippe Tessier du Cros at Boxon studio, Paris, Fr
from August 27th to 30th 2012
Mastered by Raphael Jonin at studio J Raph I.N.G.
on August 31st 2012
All songs published by Nø Førmat!
except ASA BRANCA published by RIO MUSICAL LTDA
Maimouna
(B. Sissoko)
Kora - Ballaké Sissoko
Boubalaka
(B. Sissoko, A. Diabaté)
Kora - Ballaké Sissoko
12 strings guitar - Aboubacar "Badian" Diabaté
Badjourou
(B. Sissoko)
Kora - Ballaké Sissoko
12 strings guitar - Aboubacar "Badian" Diabaté
Guitar - Moussa Diabaté
Balafon - Fassery Diabaté
Cello - Vincent Segal
Kabou
(B. Sissoko)
Kora - Ballaké Sissoko
Cello - Vincent Segal
Nalésonko
(B. Sissoko)
Kora - Ballaké Sissoko
Kalata Diata
(B. Sissoko)
Kora - Ballaké Sissoko
12 strings guitar - Aboubacar "Badian" Diabaté
Guitar - Moussa Diabaté
Balafon - Fassery Diabaté
Cello - Vincent Segal
N'tomikorobougou
(B. Sissoko, A. Diabaté)
Kora - Ballaké Sissoko
12 strings guitar - Aboubacar "Badian" Diabaté
Asa Branca
(L. Gonzaga)
Kora - Ballaké Sissoko
Guitar - Aboubacar "Badian" Diabaté
Cello - Vincent Segal
Kalanso
(B. Sissoko)
Kora - Ballaké Sissoko
In 2009, in the depths of the Malian night, kora player Ballaké Sissoko and cellist Vincent Segal recorded the stripped down dialogues of “Chamber Music”. The album collected rave reviews and became an instant classic. It was rewarded with a “Victoire de la Musique” (a French grammy award) and 200 concerts around the world. This kind of popular and critical success would have made the idea of “Chamber Music, vol.2” very appealing. But Ballaké Sissoko isn’t in the business of sequels. Ballaké’s music is perpetually galvanized by the people he met throughout his life (Toumani Diabaté, Taj Mahal, Ludovc Einaudi, Stranded Horse…) and by playing the kora every single day. Ballaké’s music is speech in eternal motion, it rests on the pedestal of Mandinka melody just so it can expand its range, just so it can enrich it with new echoes. “At Peace” is a major stepping stone on the path between memory and innovation, between an acute knowledge of history and the insatiable thirst of discovery. “I didn’t want to do Chamber Music all over again, confirmed Ballaké Sissoko, I wanted to work in its continuation.”
That is why Vincent Segal is participating again. And just like in “Chamber Music”, he put his skills as a musical director to work. And just like in “Chamber Music”, the set-up is intimate and only the most essential tools are used – no superfluous production tricks, no overdubs. The onus is on spontaneity, and priority given to first takes. But this time around, the number of people involved and the range of formulas used get bigger. Be it in a solo, a duet, a trio or a quintet, Ballaké Sissoko loves changing places and momentum. This enables him to put in practice the principles of his music with the upmost fluidity and flexibility. A music that is rooted in Mandinka tradition and is constructed on mutual listening, on a game of call and response, and on the sharing of notes and silences by kindred spirits. The word “peace” included in the title of the record is not used in vain, it is not just some rhetorical device ; it is the ferment of the sonic and human dough that Ballaké Sissoko leavens – It is probably his first instrument.
“When I want to play with someone, says the Malian musician, I first have to understand the way he works, I have to build a friendship : that’s my first reference point. And it takes time to get there.” Recorded in Angouleme (in western France) in the studio of jazz bass player Kent Carter, “At Peace” gathers his long time trusted companions. In addition to Vincent Segal, we will also find Aboubacar “Badian” Diabaté, whose slick yet understated touch on a twelve string guitar are tinted by his previous life as a Ngoni player ; the discrete and essential Moussa Diabaté, his ideal partner on the six string guitar ; and Fasséry Diabaté, whose subtle sketches on the balafon already appeared on the “Tomora” and “Chamber Music” albums. Together on the “Badjourou” and “Kalata Diata” tracks, the five men produce music that is remarkable for the sophistication of its motifs and its interventions. An art of weaving and conversation that is apparent even in the most intimate tracks : The two kora-guitar duets, “Boubalaka” and “N’tomikorobougou”, 10 minute amazing impromptu exchanges between Badian and Ballaké in the kora player’s courtyard in Bamako ; the kora-cello duet “Kabou” ; and the luminous trio cover of “Asa Branca”, one of Brazilian musician Luiz Gonzaga’s classics, that warmly invites the baião nordestin into Mandinka territory.
And this art is even more distilled and sublimated with the solo recordings “Maimouna”, “Nalésonko” and “Kalanso”. In these tracks, Ballaké Sissoko expresses the essence of his language by slightly diverting a rhythm, or with a change of cadence or notes, or by using an underused key while at the same time being in key with the music inside him. A unique way of serenely revolutionizing tradition and its legacy, like he’s not even touching it. Or in other words, like he’s at peace with it.
“At Peace” relies on the strong bond that unites its actors, but it is also an adventurous record, full of chance encounters and acrobatics. The peace displayed in the album is the peace of the brave, of musicians who aren’t afraid to rub shoulders with the unexpected and unprecedented. “I wanted for people to hear musicians in the process of discovery, musicians who sometimes were surprised by what they are playing, tells Ballaké Sissoko.” “ We kept these moments when a sense of questioning lingers, confirmed Vincent Segal, when the musicians who are less confident leave some space to those who are more confident. It creates more contrasts and nuances than when everyone is in complete certainty and there are less silences in between notes. It’s still a form of virtuosity, but the energy is different. In the first takes, the musicians display all the experience they have accumulated without the security of knowing what they are going to play. They’re on an adventure and they’re discovering things and it’s beautiful to hear.”
Ballaké Sissoko tells us that as a child he was never taught how to use a kora : he taught himself just by patiently looking at his father, the virtuoso Djélimady Sissoko. So it’s just through the power of listening, yet again, that he became the master of the musical space and time that we can hear on “At Peace”. Just like Miles Davis around the time of The Birth of Cool, Ballaké Sissoko opened a new door on this record by creating a synergy with his companions. Synergy that lies on a heightened sense of listening and empathy and directed by high expectations. As such, it isn’t innocent that the values glorified here are those of generosity, of curiosity, of improvisation and that the only power worth using is that of creation. At a time in history when Mali is going through one of its most troubled and dividing eras, “At Peace” is also a humbling master class on harmony and healthy community life.
